Playing A Game
by KeepYourHeartBroken
Summary: Peyton and Mac had a pretty short relationship and now Mac's married to Lori and has two twin daughters...how does Peyton react? You'll have to read it to find out!


Alrighty, y'all this is a newbie based on me and Mac's work over on Rp-explore, so I don't own anything except the idea. Of course, Lori, Kalie, and Lexi are all Mac's, so the credit is given-read on if you wish! Lol

A Quick Description: Peyton and Mac had a pretty short relationship and now Mac's married to Lori and has two twin daughters...how does Peyton react? You'll have to read it to find out!

Detective Mac Taylor had woke up early this morning. It wasn't extremely uncommon after September 11th, 2001. Even after he had found his way to move on and started over with someone else. He'd met Lori somewhere around three years after that life-changing Tuesday in September. They'd been together for somewhere around seven years now, married for three of those seven and they had two beautiful daughters, twins, named Kalie and Lexi. His phone was the thing that had woke him up this morning, that paired with the fact that he was already half-awake in the first place. He leaned against the counter out in the kitchen of the home he shared with Lori and their two daughters. Soon, he'd be on the job again, he was a CSI with the New York Police Department. Lori had been a CSI, but she had quit somewhere along the line. Mac remembered when the two of them had gone down to Miami for the funeral of MDPD's Tim Speedle. Lori and Speed had been close and he'd taken time off from work to be there for her. They'd slept with each other that night. Neither was exactly sure why, but they didn't have regrets about it. Lori and him had told Mac's team of CSIs at the crime lab about their relationship not long after Lori had given Mac the news that she was pregnant with the twins. They had been shocked, but Mac and Lori had expected that. Either way, the team had been happy for the two of them and supported the marriage and taken an instant liking to the twins.

Soon, Mac was on the road. It was still dark in New York City as he cruised through Manhattan in his black Chevy Avalanche. Honestly, the Avalanche was a crime lab vehicle, but he'd taken his home and it had become his main vehicle. Danny, a CSI on Mac's team, had once teased him about taking the Chevy home. Mac had given Danny a stern glance, but the whole team had laughed about it later, including Mac. He kept one hand on the steering wheel as he took a sip of his coffee. The time on the clock that was on Mac's radio showed the time as 5:07. He'd been up since 4:23. A gut feeling told Mac that something about today would be a pain in his ass. Whether that happened to be the case he was going to investigate right now or Chief Brigham Sinclair and Deputy Inspector Stanton Gerrard, Mac couldn't say. He sighed quietly and returned his cup of coffee to the cup holder as he parked his Avalanche along the road across from his team's latest crime scene.

As Mac had expected, Homicide Detective Don Flack greeted him at the scene, "Hey Mac, how's the twins?"

Mac couldn't resist a smile at the mention of his daughters, "As playful and daring as ever," he said.

"Oh, that don't sound too far off from the demeanor of their father, then," Flack pointed out.

Mac smirked, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lecture me later, Don, what do we have here?"

"Single victim, from her driver's license, she is 27 years old. Her name is Tracey Delvecchio," Don said as he led Mac under the yellow crime tape and over to the body. "Single gunshot wound, right between the eyes. I'm assuming she died instantly."

Mac nodded and kneeled down beside the body, sliding on a set of gloves and pulling his penlight from his pocket as he looked at the gunshot wound. "Hawkes here yet?" he asked, putting his penlight back after a moment.

"You're wondering on a TOD?" That was Detective Sheldon Hawkes himself. He formerly was a surgeon, but he moved to the office of the Medical Examiner after losing one too many patients on the table. He'd then transferred to field work under Mac's command as a CSI.

Mac smiled and looked up at Hawkes, "Yes, I was. What'd you get?" he replied.

"According to body temp, I'm assuming that our vic died somewhere around six hours ago," Hawkes said.

"Putting time of death at around 11 last night," Mac concluded.

Hawkes nodded, "Yes. From what I've seen, the gunshot wound seems to be our cause of death, but I could be wrong. We'll know for sure as soon as Peyton gets her on the table and finishes an autopsy."

Mac nodded. He knew why Hawkes said he could be wrong. Experience. It told both of them to not assume anything. Mac knew from working as a CSI for over 10 years and Hawkes knew from his time as an ME. On the front of seeing Peyton, Mac had his doubts. Peyton and Mac had been on a rough road for a while, especially after she found out he had married Lori. Once again, Mac got the feeling that he should be preparing for a storm that day.

Later, back at the crime lab, Mac went down to the morgue to see if Peyton had news from what she found during post. "Dr. Driscoll, did you get anything from your post on Tracey Delvecchio?" He hadn't called her Peyton in over a month, at least not face to face. In turn, Peyton had been addressing Mac as 'Detective Taylor' ever since she found out. The team had noticed the tension between the two.

"Cause of death was the gunshot wound to the head, centered between the eyes, execution style," Peyton said. "I sent the bullet to Ballistics, but it seemed like it came from a gun similar to a standard-issue weapon," she said, seeming a little confused by that fact.

Despite the tension, Peyton's performance in her job as a ME had not been affected, and Mac's performance as head of the crime lab and as a CSI hadn't changed either. The two still worked together in a decent harmony. "Are you saying that the gun used to kill our vic was a service weapon like the ones issued to NYPD officers?" Mac asked, his expression nearly matching Peyton's. Both were confused.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Peyton told him. "It wasn't a monster gun, but it certainly wasn't a very rare type of gun either."

"I'll check up on what we find with Ballistics myself. Did you get anything else from your post?" Mac replied.

"Tox screen came back clear across the board and there was nothing else unusual. I did find signs of a struggle though, it looks like she fought with someone, if not her shooter. I checked under her nails, but I couldn't find anything useable," Peyton replied.

Mac nodded, "Alright, I'll check up on Ballistics, just give me a call or tell Hawkes if you get anything else," he said. Peyton nodded to him and Mac nodded back before he headed to Ballistics to check on the results of the testing on the round that had killed their victim. There was still just one thing troubling him, and it wasn't the fact that him and Peyton weren't exactly the greatest of friends now. It was the strange fact that the round that killed Tracey Delvecchio shared the same general characteristics as that of a round fired from a standard-issue NYPD service gun.

"Once I heard you were heading down to see Peyton, I didn't expect it to be long before you showed," Hawkes said as a way of greeting Mac. Mac's confused, but nearly unreadable expression showed just how troubled the little bit of information Peyton had given him had left Mac.

"Is it true?" Mac asked.

The troubled expression that immediately crossed Hawkes's face worried Mac.

"It's more than that," Hawkes started, "It was fired from a NYPD service weapon, an officer's weapon," he said, leading Mac over to the computer.

"Which officer's gun?" Mac asked, looking at the computer screen in front of him and Hawkes as Hawkes pulled up his report and the Ballistics results.

"I checked this four times," Hawkes said, taking a deep breath and taking in the shocked expression on Mac's face. "The bullet was from your gun, Mac."

"Detective Taylor," Mac looked up at the voice. Hawkes had been sitting in his office with him, but Mac had been staring down at his desk with that unreadable face on that Hawkes knew very well.

"Yes, how can I help you?" Mac asked, looking up at the man that stood before him. Flanking the man was two uniformed officers of the NYPD. This wasn't looking good at all.

"I'd like to ask you a few questions pertaining to Tracey Delvecchio's murder," the man replied, "My name is Agent Jason Tyler, I'm with Internal Affairs."

Mac nodded. He hated IA, he had to deal with their shit when Stan and Sinclair went on their witch hunt after the events with serial killer Clay Dobson.

Agent Tyler nodded back, "I am informed that your gun was used to kill Miss Delvecchio, do you confirm this?" he asked.

Mac nodded, "That is what my team has figured out from a Ballistics test run on the bullet that was pulled from the vic during autopsy, performed by Dr. Peyton Driscoll," he said.

Hawkes stepped in and added, "I ran the Ballistics test. I checked my results four times, it came back to the same gun every time."

Agent Tyler nodded, "Detective Taylor, you do know there is very sufficient and solid evidence that says you killed Tracey Delvecchio?"

"I am aware of that, but I'm not changing my story. I didn't kill her," Mac said firmly, a spark of annoyance and anger flaring in his blue eyes.

Agent Tyler nodded and did nothing that indicated anger towards Mac's reaction to his reminding Mac of what they believed. "Then I need you to come with me, cooperatively. You're being placed under arrest until we have evidence that clears you or the case is solved," Tyler said, nodding to the two uniforms that had been with him.

It had been several days since Mac had been called out to the scene, that's the reason they had so much evidence processed and analyzed. He bit back a sharp response and stood, not protesting against one of the uniforms handcuffing his hands behind his back. He hadn't killed Tracey Delvecchio. He hadn't even seen the woman before he was called to the crime scene by the text he received that morning. Repeating that wouldn't do him any good though, he knew from experience.

"He's not a killer."

That was a new voice. A voice Mac hadn't heard since the morning. That voice belonged to Lori Taylor.

Agent Tyler turned to look at her as she walked up to Mac, laying her hand gently on his shoulder and running her other through his hair gently as she kissed him. Then Mac saw the worry in her eyes. "What is going on, Mac?" she asked him. She was worried sick, she knew he wasn't a killer. Mac didn't have it in him to be a cold-blooded killer. She'd seen him take a beating for their family and she knew how dangerous his job was.

"We have evidence that suggests Detective Taylor was somehow involved in the murder of Tracey Delvecchio," Agent Tyler said, "We're taking him in to custody now until further investigation can be completed."

It was a short while after that Lori and Mac had some alone time to talk about what had happened. Lori had her head on his shoulder and Mac had an arm around her. They stood alone in one of the interrogation rooms of the 12th Precinct, the same precinct in which Mac's friend, Detective Don Flack, worked.

"I don't understand what's going on, sweetheart. I know you didn't kill that girl," Lori said, looking up at Mac with eyes bright with worry.

Mac sighed, he didn't like worrying her, "I don't either, sweetheart. I'm sure they'll figure it out," he said soothingly, running a hand gently through her hair.

Lori flashed a slight and mostly humorless smile, "How do you know exactly what to say all the time?" she asked him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him.

"I'm not sure," Mac told her, smiling a little. Both of them managed to laugh a little at the question and response. The worry and suspense in the air was so thick you probably could have sliced it with a knife. Little did the two of them that the whole thing was a setup and that the suspicion that Mac was involved in Tracey's murder was the least of their problems.

It was two days after the arrest that Mac found out the full plot behind the suspicion of his involvement. Peyton had come to talk to him. It had started out as an awkward conversation, but it had turned in to so much more in the matter of minutes.

Peyton had an iron grip on his arm and the monster of a gun that was being held to his head was one of the only things keeping Mac silent. He didn't know why Peyton was doing this, but he figured he had a rough idea. The tension between them had been growing and he figured Peyton had finally snapped although Mac had honestly moved on from their short relationship.

"Peyton, I'm telling you this isn't a good idea," Mac told her.

"Shut up!" Peyton snarled, tying his hands behind his back roughly, making sure the ropes were extremely tight. She had his hands tied to pipes running along the wall of the old, run-down building she had taken him to. She didn't appreciate him moving on and marrying another woman. She hated him for it, and she was going to make sure he knew it. "You're in a place where no one else can hear you besides me and yourself, and you can bet your ass I don't give a damn about your opinion!" she snarled, cocking the gun and pointing it at him, tempted to just finish it all right then.

Mac's gaze locked on the gun in Peyton's hand and he struggled to get back against the wall, as far away from Peyton as he could manage. "Peyton, please, don't do this!"

"What part of 'shut up' don't you understand?" Peyton growled.

"What's this about?" Mac asked her. He didn't know where the question came from, but he felt he wanted to know what this was all about. He didn't think Peyton would ever do something like this, not in a million years.

"Isn't it obvious, Mac?" Peyton asked, clearly emotionally in to what she was doing, "You left me and married someone else!"

"We broke up with each other, you have no reason to be doing this!" Mac reminded her. "You and I both know we weren't going to work out!" He knew he was pushing his luck at the moment, but this was Mac. He couldn't help he had a stubborn mind and that that stubborn mind of his needed to point out what really happened.

"That may be right Mac, but I know we still had something for each other," Peyton growled, "I at least did." She was right in Mac's face now and the two of them glared at each other before Peyton finally just sighed, shook her head, and punched Mac across the face. "I've been needing to do that for a while now," she said as she retreated from being so close to him.

Mac winced slightly, Damn, Peyton… "That doesn't give you a reason to be doing this, not a lawful one at least. Yes, I can understand your reason, but no. I won't be backing it up," he told her. She'd hit him freakin' hard. It wasn't hard for him to imagine a good sized bruise from all this later. "I also won't say I don't have any feelings for you at all, but I don't feel the same way as you do. I don't want you to do something you will regret because I thought we were still friends," He said, unable to resist adding, "I guess I thought wrong."

Of course, Peyton wasn't pleased with this. That's when she gave Mac a shocker. "What would you do if I told you I had one of your daughters?" she asked. She had a pretty nasty smile on her face and Mac glared at her. He didn't say anything in response so she simply went to another part of the place where she'd taken Mac and, sure enough, came back with one of the twins behind her.

"Kalie!" Mac recognized her instantly. He turned an angered blue gaze to Peyton, "Now you're fucking with my life, now I don't give a damn about you," he growled.

Peyton shrugged and let Kalie run over to Mac. Kalie got in close, hiding behind her dad as best as she could. Peyton had turned around so Kalie quickly whispered, "She mean."

Mac nodded and let Kalie hide behind him, keeping an eagle eye on Peyton, "I know sweetheart, I know."

"Who is she?" Kalie asked, looking from her dad to Peyton.

"Peyton Driscoll," Mac said, "We used to date each other. Before I met your mommy," he explained.

Kalie nodded, "You left her and found mommy, didn't you?"

"That's right. And I don't regret the decision I made by being with mom, alright? Just know that, no matter what Peyton says."

Their conversation died off when Peyton turned back to the two of them. The dark look on Peyton's face made Kalie get in close to Mac and grip on to the collar of his shirt. Mac simply let her and met Peyton's dark gaze with a defiant one. "You're a good CSI, what do you know about toxicology?" Peyton asked.

Mac kept his eyes fixed on Peyton, "Nothing that you don't already know, Doctor."

Peyton nodded, "Good answer," she said. She had a syringe in her hands, filled with something. Mac couldn't make out exactly what, but Peyton took a couple steps towards him and Kalie shrank back against the wall, terrified eyes looking out over Mac's shoulder at the woman who had once been somewhat of a good person.

"Just stay away from my daughter," Mac warned, a note of a growl in his voice. He surely wasn't letting Peyton hurt Kalie, no matter what the price he had to pay.

Peyton simply nodded and stayed away from the two of them. "Fine, I'll let you two find your own way out of here," she said. That's when she left, but it wasn't long before both Mac and Kalie knew what her parting words had meant.

"Get yourself out of here, alright?" Mac said to Kalie, "Just get yourself out!" Peyton had tied his hands a little too tightly for Mac to be able to twist himself free.

"Not without you," Kalie said stubbornly, a trait Mac knew she must've gotten from him. She looked at the ropes around his wrists and started to untie him. Thank goodness Mac had told them a little about what he did as a CSI and police officer.

Soon, she had gotten Mac free and the two of them looked around, Peyton had set the whole place on fire. "Alright, come on, we're going to get out of here," Mac said, taking Kalie's hand before he set off at a jog through the building. Kalie gripped at his hand the whole way so Mac knew she was with him. The two of them were on the street within a few minutes, neither of them hurt, but both coughing from the exposure to the smoke from the fire. Peyton was nowhere to be seen.

Kalie sat on Mac's lap as they both sat in interrogation. Mac didn't know why, but he figured it had something to do with Agent Tyler. He figured out he had guessed right as Agent Tyler walked through the door and took the only other seat in the room across the table from Mac and Kalie. Besides a busted lip, Peyton had given him a couple other injuries as well. Both of Mac's wrists were bandaged carefully, the ropes had done that, and he had a couple other cuts from when Peyton had been taking him to the location and had had a knife. Kalie stayed close to Mac, a little wary of others since she had seen what Peyton had done to her dad. "What happened, Taylor?" Agent Tyler finally asked.

Mac knew he'd been taking in the injuries and he sighed quietly when Agent Tyler asked him what had happened. "Someone who I thought was somewhat of a friend turned out to be my enemy," he said.

Agent Tyler nodded, "Who did this to you two?"

"Doctor Peyton Driscoll."

"I thought she was your ME?"

"That's correct. Peyton and I used to be in a relationship before we broke up with each other. That's about when I met Lori."

"Did she say why she did this to you?"

"To simply put it her motive was revenge," Mac said, "But revenge doesn't quite satisfy the matter. To be honest with you, she was angry I had married Lori."

"But you two had broke up?" Tyler asked.

Mac nodded, "Exactly. Apparently she didn't move on from our relationship like I did. We both knew we wouldn't work out, that's why we broke up back then. I just didn't know until today the extent of her feelings on that subject."

Tyler nodded, "That's all for now, you're free to go," he said.

"What about your murder investigation?" Mac asked.

"Dr. Driscoll's taking you opened up the fact that she set you up for the murder. The real killer has since been arrested. I suggest you go home, take the rest of the day off. I'll organize it with Sinclair and Gerrard," Tyler told him.

"Thanks," Mac said. For a reason Mac didn't exactly know, the two shook hands before Mac rounded up Kalie and took her with him up to the lab to grab his stuff from his office only to find Lori waiting for them.

"Mac! Kalie! You two are alright!" Lori smiled when she saw the two of them and Mac and her hugged. "Agent Tyler said Peyton was behind all of this and I had no idea where to even start looking for you two!"

"Yeah, it was Peyton," Mac said.

Lori looked at him, "She did it because of that, huh?" she asked, seeing the look on his face.

Mac nodded, "Bingo," he muttered. "She's not the person I used to know."

Lori sighed and put an arm around him, "These days you can barely tell."

Mac gave a humorless laugh, "Yeah, isn't that the truth?"

Lori looked over at him, "You alright?"

Mac sighed and looked back over at her, "I'll be alright when I find her and make her pay for laying a hand on my daughter."

It wasn't long before Mac, Lori, Kalie, and Lexi came face to face with Peyton again. Peyton was still at it, and Mac was just as hostile as her this time.

Mac had his revolver in hand. Lori was beside him, his service weapon in her hands. Both had the guns aimed at Peyton, the twins were behind their parents. "I thought you knew who you were fucking with," Mac snarled, unable to keep his language in check with the twins behind him. Lori didn't say anything about it though, keeping her angry gaze fixed on Peyton.

"I thought you knew it wasn't over, Mac," Peyton said, holding her own gun so that it was aimed at Mac.

"Stay the hell out of our lives!" Mac snapped, cocking his revolver. "This gun is fully loaded Peyton, and I swear and I promise I won't hesitate. Now get out of my house or I'll shoot you right now," he said.

Peyton simply looked back at him and put her gun away, "I'll leave you alone once we settle this," she said.

Mac glared at her, "And how do you plan on doing that?"

"Surely you know."

Mac sighed and lowered his gun, although he kept his finger on the trigger. "I go with you and you leave them alone, huh?" he asked.

"Exactly," Peyton said.

"Not going to happen," Mac said, he brought his gun up again. "This is your last chance to get the hell out of here before I shoot you," he warned.

The raised voices had caught the attention of the neighbors, who had called the NYPD. Flack had recognized the address and taken Danny and Stella, along with a couple uniforms, out to check out what was going on.

Peyton finally sighed and headed for the door. Mac and Lori followed her to the door, making sure she was gone to see that the NYPD had been called and Peyton was being arrested. The two of them exchanged a glance before they smiled, relief evident in both of their eyes and they kissed. Stella headed up to them, "Everyone alright?" she asked.

Lori looked over at Mac, "Yeah, we're fine."

Mac looked back inside to the twins, "Yeah, she can't hurt us anymore."

Stella smiled, "She's going away for a while," she said. "Harassment, Trespassing, Kidnapping, and Assault just to name a few of her charges," she said. "You two pressing charges?"

"Definitely," Mac said, "She's not getting off light."

Lori nodded, agreeing with him, "Not after what she did to us."

Stella nodded, "We'll handle it, you two just take some time and be with each other now," she said.

Lori and Mac nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow at work," Mac said. Lori and Mac smiled, Lori knew he'd say that.

Stella smirked, "If you say so, boss."

And such was the end of Mac and Lori's troubles with Peyton. The case against her was strong and both Mac and Lori testified at the trial. Even Kalie put in her side of the story, with Mac beside her, of course. After all of the evidence was examined and the statements were given, the jury and judge found Peyton guilty as charged and the judge sentenced her to life without parole.

The End.


End file.
